'Those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.' Sunday Reflections, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Apostle Peter in Prison, Rembrandt, 1631

Israel Museum, Jerusalem [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 8:27-35 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

    

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

This Sunday Benedict Daswa will be beatified in South Africa, the first South African to be formally recognized by the Church as a martyr. He was martyred on 2 February 1990, the day that Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Blessed Benedict - he took that name when he became a Catholic in 1963 - was 43 when he died, a husband and father of eight children and a school principal. He was killed because of his opposition to witchcraft, which was widespread in his community, practised, out of fear, even by some Catholics.

The beatification ceremony takes place on a day when the First Reading and the Gospel focus on the cost of being a follower of Jesus Christ. 

Pope Benedict XVI visited Lebanon three years ago, 14-16 September. The 16th was the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, the same as this Sunday.

During his times as pontiff Benedict XVI constantly emphasised that our faith as Catholic Christians is in the person of Jesus Christ, something that Pope Francis often does too.

Pope Benedict's homily at the Sunday Mass at the Beirut City Center Waterfront was based on the readings of the day, as a homily should be, and he focused mainly on the gospel. Here are some extracts from that homily, with some parts highlighted.

St George Maronite Cathedral and Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, side by side in Beirut

[Photo: Wikipedia]

On this Sunday when the Gospel asks us about the true identity of Jesus, we find ourselves transported with the disciples to the road leading to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asks them: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29). The moment he chose to ask this question is not insignificant. Jesus was facing a decisive turning-point in his life. He was going up to Jerusalem, to the place where the central events of our salvation would take place: his crucifixion and resurrection. In Jerusalem too, following these events, the Church would be born. 

And at this decisive moment, Jesus first asks his disciples: “Who do men say that I am?” (Mk 8:27). They give very different answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets! Today, as down the centuries, those who encounter Jesus along their own way give their own answers. These are approaches which can be helpful in finding the way to truth. But while not necessarily false, they remain insufficient, for they do not go to the heart of who Jesus is. Only those willing to follow him on his path, to live in fellowship with him in the community of his disciples, can truly know who he is. 

Finally, Peter, who had dwelt with Jesus for some time, gives his answer: “You are the Christ” (Mk 8:29). It is the right answer, of course, but it is still not enough, since Jesus feels the need to clarify it. He realizes that people could use this answer to advance agendas which are not his, to raise false temporal hopes in his regard.  He does not let himself be confined to the attributes of the human saviour which many were expecting.

By telling his disciples that he must suffer and be put to death, and then rise again, Jesus wants to make them understand his true identity. He is a Messiah who suffers, a Messiah who serves, and not some triumphant political saviour. He is the Servant who obeys his Father’s will, even to giving up his life. This had already been foretold by the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading. Jesus thus contradicts the expectations of many. What he says is shocking and disturbing. We can understand the reaction of Peter who rebukes him, refusing to accept that his Master should suffer and die! Jesus is stern with Peter; he makes him realize that anyone who would be his disciple must become a servant, just as he became Servant. 

Christ Handing the Keys to St Peter, Perugino,1481-82

Sistine Chapel, Vatican [Web Gallery of Art]

Following Jesus means taking up one’s cross and walking in his footsteps, along a difficult path which leads not to earthly power or glory but, if necessary, to self-abandonment, to losing one’s life for Christ and the Gospel in order to save it. We are assured that this is the way to the resurrection, to true and definitive life with God.

Choosing to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who made himself the Servant of all, requires drawing ever closer to him, attentively listening to his word and drawing from it the inspiration for all that we do. 

Blessed Benedict Daswa

(16 June 1946 - 2 February 1990)

The final verse of today's Responsorial Psalm, which includes the response, has been surely fulfilled in the life of Blessed Benedict Daswa: 

For he has freed my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Responsorial Psalm (Philippines, USA)

Antiphona at introitum       

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Sirach 36:18

Da pacem, Domine sustinentibus te,

Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you,

ut prophetae tui fideles inveniantur,

that your prophets be found true.

exaudi preces servi tui, et plebis tuae Israel.

Hear the prayers of your servants, and of your people Israel.

(Ps 122 [121]: 1) Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi: 

I was glad when they said to me,

in domum Domini ibimus.

'Let us go to the house of the Lord.'

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever will be,

et in saecula saecolorum. Amen.

world without end. Amen.

Da pacem, Domine sustinentibus te,

Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you,

ut prophetae tui fideles inveniantur,

that your prophets be found true.

exaudi preces servi tui, et plebis tuae Israel.

Hear the prayers of your servants, and of your people Israel.

The text above in bold is the Entrance Antiphon for this Sunday in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. The complete text is the Entrance Antiphon or Introit used on the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the Extraordinary Form.

Internally displaced persons in northern Myanmar

Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam 

Diocese of Banmaw, Myanmar

The link to 'Diocese of Banmaw' above gives an excellent summary of the Church in northern Burma, now known as Myanmar, and of the involvement of the Columbans there since 1936. [Thanks to UCANews.com]

The letter below was sent by Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam of Banmaw (formerly Bhamo), a diocese created in 2006 when separated from the Diocese of Myitkyina. The two dioceses cover the Kachin State, the very mountainous and northernmost part of the country, an area a little larger than Ireland and a little smaller than Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines.

To put some perspective on the situation the bishop is writing about, the population of the Kachin State, which the Dioceses of Myitkyina and Banmaw cover, in 2012/2013 was around 1,450,000 and the Catholic population around 117,000, or 8.1 percent of the total. As recently as 2006 the population was around 2,400,000. (Statistics from Catholic-hierarchy.org).

The term 'IDPs' means 'Internally Displaced Persons', that is persons who are refugees in their own country.

St Patrick's Cathedral, Banmaw [Source]

August 26, 2015

Dear All,

It has been over 4 years since the renewed armed conflict between the government troops and the Kachin Independence Army broke out in Kachin State. To date there are more than 12000 IDPs in Kachin State and northern Shan State. No peace agreement has been reached between government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in spite of several rounds of peace negotiation between the two parties. The number of the IDPs continues increasing due to sporadic fighting between the Government Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

Recently the events of fierce battles between the two parties took place near Sumpyi Yang and and Htingbai Yang, Mali Yang in Putao and Sumpra Bum townships. It is reported that the Government Army is launching offensive attack against KIA deploying thousands of soldiers. These are provoking the displacement of several thousands of people in the areas affected by the battles. No funding agencies or even local organizations are allowed to go into the areas to help the IDPs.

The Church in Myanmar through Karuna (Caritas) Myanmar has been taking care of 75% of the IDPs in Kachin State and northern Shan State with the help of partners and funding agencies. Now, UN Organizations and other major funding agencies are cutting off 20 % of the support they were giving to the IDPs previously. Therefore, the church is very much concerned for the future of the IDPs and the Bishops, Priests, Religious and the laity met together on June 20, 2015 in Lashio and issued a Statement (Issues and Directions) on the conflict and the IDPs.

Therefore, I would like to invite all those people and organizations of good will to join with us in praying for the victims of the armed conflict and in the efforts of building durable peace in our country.

Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam

Bishop of Banmaw

Fr Jehoon Augustine Lee, Bishop Francis Daw Tang of Myitkyina, Fr Euikyun Carlo Jung at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church, Tanghpre

Fathers Jehoon and Euikyun are from Korea and were ordained last year. They are now based in Myanmar, Father Euikyun being the Spokesperson of a the Columban mission team there which consists of four priests, two from Ireland and two from Korea, and three lay missionaries, two form Korea and one from the Philippines.

One of a number of videos commemorating the Golden Jubilee of St Patrick's Cathedral, Banmaw, in 2012. It includes photos of the Columbans who worked in the Kachin State between 1936 and 1977.

'They brought to him a deaf man . . .' Sunday Reflections, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Mark 7:31-37 in Filipino Sign Language

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 7:31-37 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)     

Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.  They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” 

Old Man in Sorrow, Van Gogh, April-May 1890

Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands [Web Gallery of Art]

In the Second Reading today St James asks in his blunt way, If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

More than 30 years ago I spent three months working in a hospital in a city in the the US Midwest. I noticed that a particular nurse always wore a pro-life badge, for which I admired her. But in the three months I was there as chaplain to patients and staff on the floor we both worked on she never spoke to me except at a weekly staff meeting. I was curious rather than hurt by this and before I finished I asked her if we could meet. I told her what I had noticed and expressed my admiration for her quiet pro-life stand. She was quite taken aback, as she had never been conscious of ignoring me. It turned out that she had once had a bad experience with a priest and had 'tuned out' on all priests. We had a very good conversation and ended up hugging each other.

The nurse had been making distinctions but was far from being a judge with evil thoughts. We can be such, by deliberately shutting out another person or group of persons from our life. But very often we are unaware of others or of their needs.

Fr Joseph Coyle 

(28 February 1937 - 18 December 1991)

One group of persons that is largely ignored in the Church, especially here in the Philippines, is the Deaf. Those who are profoundly deaf refer to themselves as a group as 'The Deaf', with an upper-case 'D'. One of my late Columban colleagues, Fr Joseph Coyle from the city of Derry in Northern Ireland, worked for many years in what is now the Diocese of Kabankalan, in the southern part of the province of Negros Occidental. Early in his time in remote parishes he became aware of the needs of persons who had lost limbs. He helped many to get artificial limbs. 

But later he noticed that there were persons who were more or less totally isolated, even from their own families - persons who were profoundly deaf from birth or from early childhood. They did not even have a common language with their parents or siblings. Their deafness was experienced as an affliction by themselves and their families. They all felt a sense of powerlessness.

In English the word 'dumb' has come to mean 'stupid' because of the perception in the past that those who used to be described as 'deaf and dumb' were stupid.

Fr Joe Coyle then focused his ministry on the Deaf. Nearly 30 years ago he set up a residence in Bacolod City, Welcome Home, for out-of-town students so that they could attend schools with special education programmes for the Deaf. That particular need is now being met more and more in public schools in other cities and towns.

One of the services of Welcome Home Foundation, Inc. today is to send catechists to local public schools where there are profoundly deaf students. Some of these catechists are themselves profoundly deaf. Welcome Home also strongly encourages parents of profoundly deaf children to learn Sign Language and holds classes for them.

On the first Sunday of the month, during the academic year, the Deaf in Bacolod City are especially welcome at Sunday Mass in the public chapel of the University of Negros Occidental - Recoletos (UNO-R). On the second Sunday they have Mass in the public chapel attached to the Diocesan seminary. On the last Sunday they participate in one of the Masses at the Cathedral. On other Sundays they have Mass at Welcome Home. Quite often I celebrate that Mass, using my limited Sign Language and with the help of interpreters, some of them profoundly deaf.

But I know that there have been times when parishioners and priests in various places have complained that signing interpreters were a 'distraction'. In some instances the Deaf have been made clearly unwelcome at Mass. Maybe some of those who made them feel such are already in 'St James territory'.

I do not know the source of the sorrow of the old man in Van Gogh's painting, which expresses  very painful isolation. But isolation is what many profoundly deaf persons feel, especially if they are seen as 'dumb' in the modern sense. And what must deaf persons feel if some don't even want to welcome them at the celebration of Holy Mass, our most important act of worship as Catholic Christians to our loving Father?

As in so many of the healing stories in the Gospel, we see Jesus giving his full attention to the person in need. We see him engaging physically with that person, using his very spittle in the act of enabling the man to hear and to speak clearly.

Again, as in so many of the healing stories, Jesus is bringing someone back into the circle. The man's deafness and speech impediment, a direct result of the former, isolated him to a large degree from his own family and community. Now he was fully part of it again.

I remember seeing the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestial with a young friend, Glenn, who is profoundly, though not totally deaf, due to Usher's Syndrome, which also affects his sight. At the time he was about the same age as Elliott, the boy in the clip above. I watched the movie through Glenn's eyes, with a deeper appreciation of what is involved when a profoundly deaf person and a hearing person are trying to communicate. It can be very hard work, but rewarding.

More than twenty years ago I saw something very beautiful at the Home of Joy in Tayuman, Tondo, Manila, a home for children run by the Missionaries of Charity. I was looking for a particular girl who was profoundly deaf. I'll call her Maria. I found her playing with a group of other girls, all of them using Sign Language. But only Maria was deaf. Without being aware of it, she had invited her friends into her world of silence - and they, without being aware of it, had invited her into their world of sound. All were equal.

A very important detail in the gospel is that not only did the deaf man's friends bring him to Jesus but they begged him to lay his hand on him.

Many churches in the western world have what is called a 'loop system' whereby those who are hard of hearing and use hearing aids can participate fully in Mass and other services. Being hard of hearing is something that very often comes with growing old, and I am experiencing that myself now. but it is a very different reality from profound deafness, especially if that deafness has been since birth or early childhood.

Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God (Cf. Psalm 41 [42]:2-3). These are the words of the Communion Antiphon from the Old Testament in today's Mass. The soul of a profoundly deaf person yearns for the living God just as much as the soul of a hearing person. But do we, the majority who are hearing, really allow the Deaf to slake that thirst by enabling them to participate fully in the Holy Mass?

Sicut cervus by Palestrina

Sung by Poznańskie Słowiki, The Poznań Nightingales

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum,

Like the deer that yearns for running streams,

ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.

so my soul is yearning for you, my God.

THIS

'O Lord, how manifold are your works!' World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

O Lord, how manifold are your works! 

Psalm 104 [103]:24 [Tagaytay, Philippines]

In a letter dated 6 August 2015, the Feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Francis established the First of September each year as World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. He stated that the Catholic Church will be following what the Orthodox Church has been doing for some time.

The letter states: The ecological crisis thus summons us to a profound spiritual conversion: Christians are called to 'an ecological conversion whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them'. For 'living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience'. The quotations are from the Pope's recent encyclical Laudato Si', Nos 216 and 217 respectively.

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
    they flow between the hills.

Psalm 104 [103]: 10. [Ballachulish, Scotland]

At the end of Laudato Si' , No 246, Pope Francis gives two prayers, with this introduction: At the conclusion of this lengthy reflection which has been both joyful and troubling, I propose that we offer two prayers. The first we can share with all who believe in a God who is the all-powerful Creator, while in the other we Christians ask for inspiration to take up the commitment to creation set before us by the Gospel of Jesus. Both echo the magnificent and tender Psalm 104 [103]. 

Laudato Si' and the Pope's letter establishing World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation are both written in the context of our relationship with the Blessed Trinity and with Jesus Christ, God who became Man. Here is the second of those prayers.

A Christian prayer in union with creation

Father, we praise you with all your creatures.
They came forth from your all-powerful hand;
they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love.
Praise be to you!

Son of God, Jesus,
through you all things were made.
You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother,
you became part of this earth,
and you gazed upon this world with human eyes.
Today you are alive in every creature
in your risen glory.
Praise be to you!

Holy Spirit, by your light
you guide this world towards the Father’s love
and accompany creation as it groans in travail.
You also dwell in our hearts
and you inspire us to do what is good.
Praise be to you!

Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love,
teach us to contemplate you
in the beauty of the universe,
for all things speak of you.
Awaken our praise and thankfulness
for every being that you have made.
Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined
to everything that is.

God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth,
for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.
The poor and the earth are crying out.
O Lord, seize us with your power and light,
help us to protect all life,
to prepare for a better future,
for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Praise be to you!
Amen.

A wonderfully vibrant setting of Psalm 104 [103] produced by Psalm Project Africa, based in Uganda.

'Because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is.' Sunday Reflections, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Christ, El Greco, c.1606

Cathedral, Toledo, Spain [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

   

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders;  and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
    teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Silver Torah Case [Wikipedia]

Moses said to the people: 'So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.' (First Reading).

A silver cup for for netilat yadayim, the Jewish ritual washing of hands [Wikipedia]

Because of lack of time I shall use, with adaptations, some of the material I used for this Sunday three years ago.

The Indian Rupees 9,000 monthly rent mentioned in the video is the equivalent of about US$135 or Php6,000.

More than three years ago I was speaking to a Filipino seminarian who had worked in Dubai for some years. He had been quite involved in his parish at home and wanted to visit a group of Catholics from Kerala, India, who lived in a labour camp in Dubai. His friends thought he was crazy but he went anyway. He simply wanted to befriend these men whose living conditions he had heard about.

What he described was what I've found subsequently in videos such as the one above, which is from an Indian TV station, except that in my imagination I had pictured World War II-type wooden huts instead of big buildings not unlike apartment blocks in large cities.

The men made him most welcome. The air inside was just as the reporter in the video described. His hosts were preparing a meal outside their crowded bedroom. They didn't see much need to wash their hands or their utensils and what they were preparing was somewhat more spicy than what Filipinos normally eat.

But the young Filipino enjoyed being with his fellow Catholics, whom he knew were his brothers. He could see clearly their living conditions and was able to understand some of their stories. But what struck him most of all was their hospitality.

The Pharisees and scribes in today's gospel ask Jesus, Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?

Louis Pasteur in his laboratory, Albert Ederfelt, 1885

[Wikipedia]

I don't think that Jesus is telling us to be careless with food, in preparing it or eating it. Scientists such as Louis Pasteur have shown us the importance of doctors washing their hands and equipment before surgery, a connection that hadn't been seen before. But what Jesus is on about, I think, is the attitude of someone who would notice that the workers from Kerala in a 'villa' in Dubai didn't wash their hands before cooking and eating and would be critical of them - instead of asking why the washing facilities they shared with so many others were lacking. Someone who would fail to see the overcrowded living quarters and the underpaid workers, separated from their families, being exploited by their employers and by recruiting agencies in their own countries.

The situation my young Filipino friend came across in Dubai can be found in many countries. The term 'OFW' is widely used here in the Philippines. It means 'Overseas Filipino Worker'. OFWs are often described by politicians as modern-day heroes. But too few politicians and others are asking why so many, probably a minority in the overall picture but yet a large number of individual real persons, are exploited by some agencies at home and by employers abroad. In reality, these are treated as anything but heroes.

Nor is Jesus opposing tradition or traditions. He was a faithful Jew, as were Joseph and Mary and understood their importance. Tradition and traditions, even if we don't know their origins, are basically life-giving. The Pharisees and scribes  in today's gospel - not all Pharisees and scribes were like these - have turned them into ways of sucking the lifeblood out of people.

Reb Tevye in the extract from Fiddler on the Roof below says, And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is. The exploited workers from Kerala carried with them the tradition of hospitality they had inherited from their ancestors and welcomed a stranger from the Philippines in Dubai. Despite their appalling conditions they knew who they were. They lacked freedom in so many ways but they had the freedom to be welcoming. Hospitality is one of the most cherished experiences in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. It is cherished in every culture and it is at the heart of following Jesus, who showed hospitality to others, rich and poor, and who graciously accepted it from others, rich and poor. Indeed, he was sometimes criticised for eating with the poor, as he is in today's gospel because his companions didn't wash their hands.

I don't know if the workers from Kerala whom my friend met had a chance to go to Mass - he did as he lived very near a church. But the Prayer after Communion today fits in with their meeting in Dubai.

Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, 
we beseech you, Lord, 
that, being the food of charity, 
it may confirm our hearts 
and stir us to serve you in our neighbour. 
Through Christ our Lord.

Antiphona ad introitum     Entrance Antiphon  Ct Ps 85 [86]: 3, 5

Miserere mihi Domine, 

Have mercy on me, OLord,

quoniam ad te clamavi tota die:

for I cry to you all the day long.

quia tu Domine suavis ac mitis es,

O Lord, you are good and forgiving,

et copiosus in misericordia omnibus invocantibus te.

full of mercy to all who call on you.